Indian food has become one of the most sought after ‘exotic’ cuisines nowadays. It is known for its generous use of spices, aroma and for its delicate mix of flavors. Many people find Indian food too rich or too spicy for their taste buds, but the truth is that the Indian food served in restaurants is very different from the daily, simple home fare that millions of Indians enjoy every day.

For example, let us take the famous curry dish of chicken tikka masala which is considered so very Indian and which, in reality, is a recipe never known to Indians until the Indians settled in England went ahead and concocted this dish which could be considered Indian because of the generous use of ‘masalas’ or spice mixes, but which never evolved in India. The red tomato based sauce was toned down in spiciness to suit the British palette and the recipe is as varied as the stories of the origin of this dish.

You can make some on your own. All you need to do is marinate some chicken chunks in yogurt and your favourite Indian spices for about six hours, and then bake it in a tomato based gravy in an oven. Alternately, you may want to cook the whole thing in a pot that you should seal with a flour-water paste for pressure. Enjoy with ‘naan’ or rice. The popularity of the curry dish is such that the term ‘Indian cuisine’ has become synonymous with the word ‘curry’.